One of the most common reasons for engaging our support is a leader’s displeasure or frustration with her employees’ behavior. She is disappointed in their apparent lack of values such as openness, a capacity for teamwork, respect, courtesy and honesty. Although we already know the answer, we open the first talk with this question: “Do the above-mentioned values factor in selecting a new employee?” “Sure, when we’re showing them the ropes but not directly during the interview before we hire,” is the usual answer. We have a hard time understanding why so little attention is given to the cultural fit of potential new staff members. A cultural fit implies the extent to which employees’ values and approaches to work coincides with their employer’s.
Not to confuse values with principles. Principles are essential beliefs that accompany us through life. These are very difficult to change. Over 90 percent of our personality and core principles are shaped within the first six or seven years of our lives and remain relatively stable. Upholding our principles gives our lives structure and direction.
Your company’s principles should be enduring and consistently implemented, helping your people navigate their everyday professional life, especially in crises or during transitional processes. Observe a leader in his mid-forties. His principles are nearly forty years old and solidly embedded. Attempting to change them is a long process without much hope of success. Thus, it is more effective when you fill an open position with someone who embodies similar principles and has done so for about the same amount of time. Then, you can be sure he will naturally represent, uphold and pass on your company’s principles.
In this context, leaders are role models. When your workforce clearly perceives your, their leader’s, principled strength of character, it will give them security, solid footing and direction during a transitional process or crisis. Strong principles such as honesty and reliability endure – before, during and after a transition. […]
It is, or at least should be common knowledge that a shift in values cannot be introduced and expected to bear fruit overnight. It is a process that requires time and proper foresight. Although value shifts are initiated from the top down, they can only take root from the bottom up. If a value shift is to succeed, leaders must actively take charge of the new direction, guiding and moderating the transition. You must fully understand the time factor here if the new values are to be organically implanted and continue to grow and spread long after the transition has come full circle. And this takes time. We are often asked how that’s supposed to work. Our answer: “Tirelessly, patiently, enduringly and empathetically, there is no other route to a sustainable value shift!” When your organization structure initiates a shift in values, you may want to differentiate between the values to be fostered in each department. Distribution requires vigorous values, finance needs stability and projects must exude flexibility. Furthermore, altered parameters can also compel you to adapt your values accordingly. In this case, you must recruit leaders who naturally embody the desired new values and not the current ones. […]
What does all this mean for your company? As an employer, the first thing you must know, of course, is what you value, what drives your behavior. If you haven’t explored your values yet, then it’s high time you do. Define your values! To quote Roy O. Disney, co-founder of the Walt Disney Company, Making decisions is not difficult when you know your values. We intentionally used the phrase traditional values when formulating this question. We firmly believe some things have proven their worth through the ages and should continue to be upheld. As early as 1748, the sixteen-year-old George Washington, later to become the first U.S. president, copied down and compiled the 110 Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior, defining the values for better human interaction. Th e basis of his book was a 1595 collection of rules set down by French Jesuit priests.[1]
An excerpt from the book “Leadership is More – 27 Questions We Too Can Answer” written by Gianni, Jan & Marcello Liscia, 2022
[1] https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.usc.edu/dist/a/836/fi les/2015/05/ George-Washingtons-Rules.pdf, accessed Oct. 24, 2022.
